Specialty food stores & 4 reasons why they succeed!

As I wrestle my way through the small busy lanes which make up Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Market and trek along the historical districts of Takayama, I realized one thing about the food businesses in Japan; They don’t try to ‘do-it-all’ instead they have mastered the art of specializing in a single product or a single concept.

A beef offal stew specialty store at Tsukiji Market

Two specialty stores really caught my eye; the first one was the exceedingly popular Inoue Ramen at Tsukiji Market, they served up the most affordable ramen noodles with heaps of fresh spring onions, bamboo shoots and a generous 4 slices of rolled pork!  The second speciality store was a little more obscure; Tucked away around a view-restricted corner in the small town of Takayama was a little kiosk selling Hida beef stew and grilled Hida beef tongue, for the uninitiated, Hida beef is right up there with Waygu and Kobe beef, but in my opinion is a little more artisanal because it’s a lot less commercialized.

Hida beef specialty store in Takayama

So I started thinking, what makes these speciality F&B businesses so successful and why is it so rampant in Japan?? Here are my 4 reasons.

1. Reduces customer risks and affects their decision process
   A specialty store greatly reduces the customers risk, he/she knows that the product being sold there is most probably a good one (also justifies why there’s a massive line outside each store at any one time) . So becoming a specialty store immediately transforms the staff in the business into experts in the field… and everyone trusts experts don’t they?
2. It’s easier to market and plan processes for just one product
   Planning the production process and inventory for a restaurant with multiple concepts can become a nightmare. Specialty stores have the advantage in managing inventory and managing expectations of supply and demand, less time consuming and less to do. It is also easier to focus on optimizing processes and marketing a specialty concept. 
3. Training procedures are lessened and less skilled workers are required
   The very nature of a specialized product means that production processes are also specialized and can be easily managed and replicated, this means less training requirement for new staff and a lower requirement for skilled workers, thus, reducing staff costs.
4. The Japanese have intense pride in their products
   The Japanese are so fervently proud of their product, from the way they choose raw materials to the handling of the final product. Their care for every production process can be felt in the final product and their level of skill which goes into the product resonates into the consumer. Adding value and providing the customer a sense of euphoria (to an extent).

Inoue Ramen store at Tsukiji Market

So should more and more business specialize instead of diversifying their skillsets into multiple concepts? I think so, I have always been a strong believer in specializing in a certain skillset and only expanding into other peripheral skills, it just makes business sense.

What do you think? 

Premium pasta vs Regular pasta - which is better?? (Rustichella d'Abruzzo vs San Remo spaghetti)

Rustichella spaghetti vs San Remo spaghetti

There has long been an age-old debate between the varying qualities of pastas on the market, aside from fresh pastas (which we will not be covering today), there are 2 main variations of dried pastas; Those which are extruded using a bronze die and those which go through a teflon coated die. The bronze cut method is the original extrusion method, this technique renders a rough consistency on the surface of the pasta and takes a longer time to process, and this also means it’s more expensive but in theory, should allow sauce to cling on easily. So the debate boils down to food cost, economical VS premium, does it really make a difference in pasta? 

We decided to put two prominent brands of pasta through 3 grueling tests to find out if there’s any real difference. It’s Rustichella d'Abruzzo vs San Remo – Let the battle begin!

The mouth-feel test – Testing texture
In this test we boiled the pastas in salted boiling water according to the directions as started on the packaging. We cooked the Rustichella pasta for 10 minutes and the San Remo pasta for 13 minutes. The objective was to reach the perfect al-dente stage, that’s when the texture is nice and springy on the outside and the center of the pasta is still a tad crisp. Overall both pastas performed well; with Rustichella just edging forward as the consistency from exterior to interior was just perfect!
Verdict – Winner: Rustichella d'Abruzzo

The wall test - Testing tradition
According to old grandmother cookery stories, in order to tell if the pasta is ready for its sauce, you need to throw it against a wall and if it sticks its ready to go. So we decided to throw both pastas against a wall and see if they stick…. Well… we found out that they both stick… so we ended up with 2 packs of pasta on my walls and a horrendous mess to clean up afterwards.
Verdict – Draw!! They both stick!

The sauce test – Consistency and taste
In our last test, we tossed the pastas with a simple beef ragu, plated it up and dug in. I discovered that the Rustichella pasta indeed does have a much better mouth feel that the San Remo pasta. Another point to add is that the Rustichella pasta, although cooked for a shorter time, swelled up more and that enabled some of the sauce to permeate flavours into the pasta. In terms of sauce stickage, it was not immediately noticeable, however over time, and with more and more agitation it was clearly apparent that the ragu enjoyed clinging to the rustichella pasta more.
Verdict – Winner: Rustichella d'Abruzzo

In conclusion, if you have some extra money to spend on groceries I strongly recommend buying premium pasta, although regular pastas come pretty close and do also taste superb (especially with perfect slow-cooked beef ragu), they just lack that extra dimension which can transform your meal from splendid to spectacular. 

Rochester, NY - Where my journey into food began

We all have certain pivotal moments in life, experiences which change us greatly and experiences which change us whether for better or worst. and as hard headed as us chefs are we have all experienced those life changing moments which define us.

Mine happened when I was a marketing student in Rochester, NY. It was my 21st birthday, I had just moved to Rochester, had no friends in town and my family Singapore would be fast asleep at the time; So I switched on the TV and flipped to the Food Network Channel and started watching it, I became addicted to say the least. While not all program on the network are perfect, the channel contains enough culinary know-how and concepts to inspire just about everyone.

I took these photos days before I left Rochester. I should have taken photos in this beautiful city.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d always had a keen interest in food and cooking, and I’d even wanted to go to culinary school instead of studying marketing. But I never had any clear direction as to how I would do that or how I could develop the necessary skills; So while other students were out partying or chilling out I would be at home watching the food network, baking bread from scratch, experimenting with salad dressings and a little molecular gastronomy.

More scenes from Rochester

When I was done at Rochester, I moved down to New York City and started work as a marketing consultant only to find alot more culinary adventures in the city that never sleeps.

Needless to say, I didn’t have much of a normal college life nor did I have a very normal 21st birthday; but they were both very special and they are both experiences which have and will define my choices in future.